Devices which receive, convey, and open folded printed products to permit inserts therein have been known for many years. U.S. Pat. No. 4,723,770, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, is an example of one such device particularly adapted for use in placing inserts into newspapers. The outermost section is received by a generally V-shaped pocket which has one stationary wall and one movable wall. The paper is inserted while the walls are separated, they are then brought together and vacuum applied. The vacuum holds the halves of the paper against the walls (which are then separated), thereby causing the paper to open. Any additional sections can then be easily inserted.
The foregoing device works satisfactorily for full sized newspapers. In this situation, the folded paper has only two open edges; namely, the spine or fold, and one side. However, in the case of tabloids, there is only the single fold at the bottom, and the three other edges are all open. The same is true of booklets.
Such printed products present special problems, especially if the paper is thin and flexible. When the vacuum is applied and the pocket opened to permit insertion, the pages tend to curl downward into the V notch. Thus, on insertion, the pages are crumpled and/or torn. This result is, of course, unsatisfactory from a commercial standpoint.
Moreover, it is often important that separation in the pocket take place with approximately half the pages on either side. Usually only the outermost pages are held against the walls of the pocket and the others will fall loosely. Thus, even if crumpling is avoided, the inserts will be placed between the first two pages, increasing the likelihood of tearing.